According to official data, Delhi recorded 3,567 COVID-19 cases on Saturday and the positive rate continued to rise to 4.48 per cent from 4.11 per cent a day ago while 10 more people succumbed to the deadly virus.
In the last two weeks, the positivity rate has mounted from just below one per cent to 4.48 per cent.
Earlier, Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said that the situation is considered under control if the positivity rate remains below 5 percent for several days.
On Saturday, the number of cumulative cases stood at 6,72,381. Ten more deaths were reported, taking the toll to 11,060, the health department said on Saturday.
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The city had reported 3,594 cases on Friday, the highest daily count this year, but the positivity rate continued to rise in the city.
On December 3, the city had recorded 3,734 cases while on December 4, the count was 4,067, the official data shows.
Delhi had reported 2,790 cases on Thursday, and 1,819 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, 992 cases on Tuesday, 1,904 cases on Monday and 1,881 cases on Sunday.
It had recorded 1,558 cases on Saturday, 1,534 cases last Friday, 1,515 cases last Thursday, 1,254 cases a day before that and 1,101 cases last Tuesday, when it had crossed the 1,000-mark for the first time since December 24.
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The number of active cases rose to 12,647 from 11,994 a day before. A total of 79,617 tests, including 57,296 RT-PCR tests, were conducted a day ago, the health bulletin said.
On Friday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said the national capital was encountering the fourth wave of COVID-19 infection but imposition of a lockdown was not being considered yet.
The chief minister had said added, "It's a matter of concern since the COVID-19 cases are rising exponentially. But there is no need to panic. The government is monitoring the situation and taking all necessary steps."
The health department said on Saturday that the number of people under home isolation rose to 6,569 from 6,106 a day ago.
The containment zones rose to 2,618 from 2,338 on Friday, it said.
The number of cumulative cases as on January 1 had stood at over 6.25 lakh and the total fatalities were 10,557.
The number of daily cases had started to come down in February.
On February 26, the month's highest daily count of 256 cases was recorded.
However, the daily cases began to rise again in March and have been steadily increasing since then.
Of the 5,947 beds set aside for coronavirus patients in government and private hospitals in Delhi, 3,506 are unoccupied, according to government data.
Delhi on March 19 had recorded 716 fresh COVID-19 cases, the highest in over two-and-a-half months, while the positivity rose had jumped to 0.93 per cent. Four fatalities were reported on that day pushing the death toll to 10,953, as per official data.
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The next day, Delhi had reported over 800 COVID-19 cases, for the first time this year, and the positivity rate had breached the one per cent-mark after over two months.
The figures have been steadily rising since then, crossing two per cent-mark in between and then breaching the four per cent-mark on Friday.
Health experts and doctors have attributed this "sudden rise" in cases to people turning complacent, not following COVID-appropriate behaviour and "assuming all is well now".
The next two-three months could be challenging, they said, adding the situation can be kept under control if vaccination is opened up for more people and COVID-19 protocols are strictly adhered to.
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Meanwhile, cracking the whip against the violators of coronavirus-related protocols, Delhi Police issued 11,800 challans for not following the face mask rule and 125 for not maintain social distancing in the last two weeks amid a recent spike in the cases.
According to data shared by Delhi Police, a total of 5,78,324 challans have been issued since June 15 till Friday, including 5,36,256 for not wearing face masks and 38,631 for not maintaining social distancing.
(With PTI inputs.)
